Lights, camera, action…lots and lots of action. That is the best way to describe Benicia High School’s Panther TV.

Since its inception in 2013, the weekly web series that serves as an offshoot of the film production class has had the same goal: to deliver the news of on-campus happenings to students and their parents in a video format. However, each year, the student cast has brought something new to the presentation, and with showings now being required for the whole campus under the new schedule, this year’s class has sought to take it to a whole new level.

Matt O’Reilly, the class instructor, said Panther TV began as a way for students to deliver news to their fellow peers. He describes the program as a class within a class where a group of film production students focuses on putting Panther TV together as a means to use their film skills for broadcasting.

The class began with seven students delivering the news from desks out of a ceramics room.

“They were delivering information almost like how announcements were delivered on the intercom but at least it was in video format,” O’Reilly said.

Over time, the students would utilize green screen and incorporate more skits. O’Reilly said the presentation has been dependent on the students in the class, with the approach this year being more of a “news variety show.”

“One thing that was really lacking in previous years was the entertainment factor,” he said. “The goal was to get the entertainment factor figured out so that more students would be interested in watching it.”

Under the direction of crew members Taylor Chao, Hector Cordero, Evan Jennings, Anders Knutstad, Phoenix McGee, Carson Rendell, Iris Sampayo and Chris Weldon, the show has incorporated a lot more absurdist sketches and enabled students to film in different locations without being confined to a desk. The crew had all been students in O’Reilly’s film production class for a year, and when they signed up for an additional year, their instructor suggested they become a part of Panther TV. Despite some initial hesitation, the crew saw an opportunity to retool the format.

“The more we talked about it, the more we became excited about it,” Rendell said. “We realized we could use this platform to kind of go crazy with our creativity and what we wanted to make.”

The tone is immediately set in the first episode of the new season which opens with the Knutstad and Rendell delivering the news from a desk as in previous years, before the desk is taken out and destroyed by the crew in slow motion as an Edith Piaf chanson plays in the background.

Knutstad said they watched a lot of absurdist comedies to prepare for the new year, and while the goal is still to deliver news on upcoming campus events and other school-related happenings, the new format has yielded new ways to convey that information. For example, a recurring segment titled “What’s in the Vase?” features various objects being pulled out of a vase. These items can alternate between pieces of food and logos for colleges that will have representatives on campus in the coming weeks.

“It kind of tricks people into focusing on the information,” Knutstad said. “They’re’ like, ‘I don’t know if they’re gonna pull a whole ham out of this vase or if it’s gonna be a logo for a college, and I’m gonna figure out when this college is gonna be here and when I get to go.’”

“The show is a catalyst of weirdness to deliver information to students,” he added.

Faculty members have also joined in on the fun. Often the segments revolve around puns on a teacher’s last name, such as the recurring “Chewing with Chu,” where Knutstad asks questions of art teacher Christine Chu while the two of them are chewing gum. Another interview with counselor Kathleen Wallace features a lot of references to William Wallace, the Scottish warrior who was the subject of the movie “Braveheart.” Another skit features English teacher Ron Calderon presenting news while dressed as late “Joy of Painting” host Bob Ross, complete with the segment being filmed to resemble an old VHS tape.

“A lot of reviews we get are generally from episodes where we have teachers in them because the rest of the staff likes to tell us, ‘Hey, I liked that teacher on there,’” Rendell said. “It’s another way to get our audience.”

Knutstad said the teachers often have no idea what to expect, but they have all been very gracious.

Other segments are mostly about having awkward fun, such as “Hold My Squid,” where Jennings asks random students to hold a plastic squid.

“The students enjoy it because it’s so quick and they have no idea what to expect,” Rendell said.

One thing that has helped Panther TV grow its audience has been the new bell schedule, which has a built-in Homeroom period on Wednesdays and Thursdays where Panther TV is now required to be shown by teachers on the latter day.

“I think that’s definitely made a difference in terms of audience,” Knutstad said.

O’Reilly hopes his students gain a variety of life skills from the class, including public speaking, writing, communication and being able to produce a TV show weekly. For Knutstad and Rendell, they see the class as a way to gain skills in sharing ideas, meeting deadlines and effectively managing time. They see it as fun and not work.

“We enjoy all the work we put into it because it’s fun and we have a good time doing it,” Rendell said. “We enjoy the end product because we know how much work went into it, and we also enjoy the reaction from the end product. It’s kind of a win-win-win situation.”

Episodes of Panther TV are available on O’Reilly’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/channel/UC0f0xG5m7ZBQBF7UE-R71HQ.